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How to Make an Elf Shoe: Air Dry Clay Ornament DIY Tutorial!
Any beginner can make the comon cookie cutter clay ornament. But come one, you’re way craftier than that! You need a project that takes your clay and turns it into something a little more impressive. This elf shoe is an easy but impressive next-level clay project that actually makes use of the third dimension. Added bonus: Your friends and fam will be utterly amazed that you FREAKIN’ made this! You can watch the video tutorial for this project here. You can download the
How to Make a Christmas Ghost: Air Dry Clay Santa Tutorial Step-by-Step!
Watch the video tutorial here ! The most famous trio of Christmas ghosts are probably the trio from Charles Dickens’ 1843 novel A Christmas Carol. However, long before Christmas became a Christian holiday, winter solstice festivals were associated with the thinning of the veil between life and death. It’s certainly not hard to imagine that families long ago would want to cuddle up next to a fire and tell ghost stories during the longest, darkest nights of the year. So ghost
How to Make a Simple Snake Dish with Air Dry Clay: Coil Method
Watch the video tutorial here ! This simple coil-built dish is one of the most versatile air dry clay project ideas you can try. I made a snake-shaped dish (template below) but you can use this beginner friendly method to make a dish in any simple shape you'd like. I'll show you how to use a napkin decoupage technique to decorate the bottom of your dish so even the artistically-challenged beginner can achieve an expert-level finish! Let's grab some good quality air dry cl
How To Make Fake Cake Art from a Pringles Can
Watch the BUILD VIDEO for this and get more Pringles Can Craft Ideas HERE ! Fake food is having a moment and this Pringles can craft idea is playing right into that trend! Whether it’s food-themed decor and furniture at your local home decor store, or food-themed DIY projects on your social media feed - it feels like fake food art and design is everywhere. You can hop on this trend by making a set of 3 fake mini cakes with a chip can and some household spackle. I mount
Jane Sawyer Makes
May 21, 20243 min read
How to Transform a Pool Noodle into A Tentacle
Watch the video tutorial here ! The Kraken is a legendary sea monster of maritime folklore. It's usually described as a giant octopus-like creature with massive tentacles that are used to drag ships to their doom beneath the waves. Let’s make a sculpture of one those iconic tentacles reaching through a porthole. This paper mache tutorial will show you how to transform a pool noodle into an octopus or kraken tentacle. I’ll walk you though it step-by-step below. You can als
Jane Sawyer Makes
May 3, 20243 min read
3 EASY Ways to Make DIY Tree Bark!
Recently I made some DIY Log Bookends and explored 3 different ways of making fake tree bark with common art and craft supplies. This article will summarize the three methods I experimented with. You can also w atch the build video on my YouTube channel here . Our three faux tree bark methods include; the egg carton method, the spackle method, and the air-dry clay method. Scroll down! You'll definitely know how to make fake tree bark for your art or craft projects at the end
Jane Sawyer Makes
Apr 13, 20243 min read
How to Make DIY Log Bookends with Cardboard - Free Template!
Store-bought bookends are stupidly expensive for what they are (weights to hold your books upright). In this article, I'll walk you step-by-step through making your own set of whimsical cottage-core bookends out of cardboard . This isn't your middle-school paper mache project! While even a middle-schooler could do it, we're going to make something really well-crafted and beautiful. Check out this video or this article for my workflow tips for a less-messy, grown-up
Jane Sawyer Makes
Mar 8, 20243 min read
How To Make A Bigfoot Automata That REALLY WALKS! - Free Template
Now you can FINALLY catch bigfoot walking! Making your own strolling cryptid creature is deceptively easy and really freakin' delightful. This papercraft makes use of a simple crankshaft mechanism to animate Bigfoot's big feet. It's not complicated, but animating Biggie's limbs with a simple wire crank is almost as rewarding as an actual sighting of the celebrity skunk-ape himself! Print out the template for free below, or, for an ad-free experience, you can purchase the te
Jane Sawyer Makes
Mar 2, 20244 min read
How to Make Realistic Polymer Clay Mushrooms!
Watch the video tutorial HERE ! This polymer clay mushroom tutorial will show you how to use translucent polymer clay to sculpt some lifelike amanita fly agaric mushrooms. You can use these to make polymer clay mushroom lights with a little trick I use to give these hollow stems that can be rigged for LED lighting. Added bonus: You're must less likely to burn your fingers making these mushrooms when compared to making the ever-popular hot-glue mushroom lights. Materials Nee
Jane Sawyer Makes
Feb 24, 20243 min read
Dry-Brush Painting: The BEST Way to Paint Your Sculptures, Models, and Minis
Watch the video here!⬇️ What is dry brush painting? Dry brushing is a super easy paint technique that gives you expert level results with saturated colors. You don't need a steady hand. You don't need fancy equipment. Heck, you don't even need good quality paint. The technique involves using very little paint on your brush, such that the bristles are almost dry. This article will give you you a detailed walkthrough on how to dry brush acrylic paint on your sculptures
Jane Sawyer Makes
Feb 12, 20246 min read
How to Paper Mache: BEST paper, BEST glue recipe, BEST results!
Watch the LESS MESS PAPER MACHE video on my YouTube channel! Without a doubt, the most affordable and versatile sculptural medium I can think of is paper maché. Paper maché is a great way to upcycle your garbage and make big and impressive art on a small budget. It also works for small models and projects - it really is a wonderfully adaptable media and I'd hate to have the idea that this has to be messy turn you off from what is truly a kickass art form! In this articl
Jane Sawyer Makes
Jan 5, 20247 min read
How to Make a Sock Abominable Snowman⛄: Dollar Tree Christmas DIY Inspired by Bumble from Ruldolph!
Watch the step-by-step video HERE! SCROLL DOWN to download the pdf template! You know I love a sock cryptid around here, and sock Mothman was such a hit, I thought we could make a Sock Abominable Snowman for the festive season. This is a much more DIY or kid-friendly approach to the abominable Bumble from Rudolph. You might remember that I previously built a Bumble Butler from my family's used Christmas gift wrap. I love this guy, but that project was a little more c
Jane Sawyer Makes
Dec 8, 20233 min read
You Won't Believe What I found Growing in my Elf Cosmetics Compact
This December I found some very weird contamination in my e.l.f. cosmetics compact... Actually, this make-up was expired, and before I threw it out, I thought it would be funny to explore what it would look like if a Christmas elf was trapped inside my elf make-up compact. I cleaned out the compact, grabbed some polymer clay, and started sculpting a Buddy The Elf inspired little guy. Did he get trapped in there in the makeup lab? Did he climb in accidentally? It's fun to thin
Jane Sawyer Makes
Dec 1, 20231 min read
How to Carve Stone Like Butter: You've Never Seen a Craft Kit Like This!
Watch the Project Video here ! Stone carving has always felt like an art form that isn’t for the “Average Joe” (-or “Average Jane”, in my case. 🤪) It has always seemed inaccessible due to the hardness of the material or the need for specialized tools. I was always under the impression that stone carving either took ages to do, or required a large up-front investment in tools. However, I recently stumbled upon a company called Rubble Road , which makes affordable, entry-lev
Jane Sawyer Makes
Nov 22, 20234 min read
How to Cheat at Sculpting: Realistic Leaf Tutorial that Will Make You Look Like a Pro
Culpting a realistic leaf in polymer, air-dry, or ceramic clays is deceptively easy. You don't need advanced skills or fancy tools, you just need a bit of scrap clay. In this step-by-step guide, I'll walk you through an easy technique that you can use to trick people into thinking you're a leaf sculpting pro! You can watch this method in action as part of my man-eating carnivorous plant build for my Spooky Plants video on my YouTube channel . This was a polymer clay proj
Jane Sawyer Makes
Nov 18, 20233 min read
How To Turn A Walnut Into A Man-Eating Plant
Watch the build video here ! In the final installment of our spooky plants series , our inspiration comes from the iconic Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors . If you haven't seen the movie or the stage production, you've probably seen some version of this prop. It's a popular Halloween decor project among DIY and craft enthusiasts! This one makes use of a walnut shell for Audrey's carnivorous head. I have a tutorial on how to split a walnut in half here . You'll also
Jane Sawyer Makes
Nov 7, 20236 min read
How to Make a Bleeding Heart Plant to Haunt your DIY Halloween Decor
Watch the build video here! Watch the build video here ! In the second installment of our spooky plants series, we're going to craft a Bleeding String of Hearts. This is a haunted DIY hybrid of the delicate string of hearts plant and the dramatic bleeding heart plant . These are two of my real-life favourites! If you're interested in checking out the haunted spider plant I made out of foam hair rollers, or the deadly carnivorous plant that started as a walnut, you can c
Jane Sawyer Makes
Nov 6, 20234 min read
You Won't Believe How to Make This Spider Plant
Watch the FULL BUILD VIDEO here ! It's almost unbelievable that this started as foam hair rollers from the dollar store! Inspired by the staple of the '70s I wanted to make a spookier version of a spider plant to use as Halloween decor. I'm hoping to add to the collection over the next few years so that eventually I can have a haunted indoor garden. I grabbed the foam hair rollers from the dollar store on a whim a few months ago, thinking that I could probably make somethi
Jane Sawyer Makes
Nov 5, 20234 min read
How to Age and Patina a New Terracotta pot FAST
Watch the VIDEO TUTORIAL here ! Whether you want to add a vintage charm to your plant collection, coordinate a new pot with older ones in your collection, or (like me!) create a theme garden that needs an aged look, this tutorial will help you add an instant patina to your new terracotta plant pots . I really went for it with the aged and muddy look, but it's easy to tone it down a bit for a more subtle aging effect. I used these pots for a series of three spooky plants
Jane Sawyer Makes
Nov 4, 20233 min read
How to Make a Polymer Clay Jack O'Lantern: 8 easy steps!
Watch the build video here! Watch the build video HERE ! Let’s go step-by-step through a beginner-friendly Halloween polymer clay sculpting project: crafting your very own jack o'lantern . I’ll summarize the 8 steps below, but you can also watch the tutorial in video format on my YouTube channel here . This project is fun for experienced sculptors, but I’ve used these techniques to make monsters with kids as young as 8! This project uses a few different colours of oven-b
Jane Sawyer Makes
Oct 20, 20234 min read
How to Make a Colour-Changing Crystal Ball: Magical DIY Halloween Decor (NO TECH!)
Watch the build video here! It's October, which means it’s time to embrace all things spooky and supernatural! It’s too early to see Christmas decorations in stores right? Wrong! This is why us spooky people can actually appreciate the dollar store Christmas supplies. We can transform this too early holiday cheer into something truly enchanting for Halloween – a color-changing crystal ball snow globe . Let’s work together to make a mesmerizing, no-tech crystal ball that
Jane Sawyer Makes
Oct 13, 20233 min read
10 Easy Steps to the CUTEST hanging bat: DIY Air Dry Clay Project
Watch the build video here ! Nobody likes a smelly car, but store-bought car fresheners are too strong. Those pricey, pungent dingle-dangles might help your stinky car situation, but I personally find them far too odorous. If you’re sensitive to scents like me or you would rather DIY than buy almost anything, this cute, batty DIY air dry clay car freshener is a great solution! It is easily customizable to your own aesthetic. If you don’t have a car, make one and stick it in y
Jane Sawyer Makes
Oct 5, 20234 min read
How to Make a Creepy Secret Mushroom Jar in 5 Easy Steps!
Watch the build video here! Creating your very own creepy-cute mushroom jar is a dead-easy craft project that combines polymer clay sculpting and imaginative design. In this step-by-step tutorial, I'll guide you through the process of transforming a small glass vial from the dollar store into a mushroom. I put a face on my jar, transforming it into a creepy little dude. However, you could use the same technique to make a little mushroom fairy house. Whether you're a seasoned
Jane Sawyer Makes
Sep 12, 20233 min read
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